Taylor Bibat, Director




Danny Bernardo, Writer




Kat Roberts, Production Designer






Alex U. Griffin, Director of Photography
he/him/his
Los Angeles
Alex U. Griffin is an award-winning cinematographer and photographer based in Los Angeles, and with services worldwide. He has worked on a wide range of projects from branded content and digital media to short and feature films, with his specialty being live-performed puppetry and practical effects. As a lighter and cinematographer, he has worked with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Wiz Khalifa, Ringo Starr, and more. His films have played at festivals around the world, including Slamdance, BAM Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, and Cannes. 
Alex is also a puppet artist active in the puppet community. He is a film coordinator for Heather Henson's Handmade Puppet Dreams, for which he has also provided puppetry, direction, and cinematography. He is a film columnist for the Puppetry Journal, and Vice President of both the Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry and Puppeteers of America. He is also curates the Reel Puppetry Film Festival every other year, and the 48hr Puppet Film Project every spring.
IG: @alexugriffin   
www.alexugriffin.com




Carol Trobe, Puppet Sculptor




Rachel Burson, Puppet Fabricator






Lexi, Associate Producer
she/her/hers
Los Angeles
Lexi spent the last ten years working as a director and actor in Chicago. Recently, she has relocated to LA and is working primarily as a theatre director. Her past credits include Long Christmas Dinner (Chicago Fringe Opera), Dadda Woof Pappa Hot and Bull in a China Shop (About Face Theatre), Koalas (16th Street), Henry V (Babes with Blades), Much Ado About Nothing (Muse of Fire), Romulus (Oracle), 20, 000 Leagues Under The Sea and understudying In A Word (Strawdog), As You Like It (Midsommer Flight), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Two Pence Theatre Company), The Hunting of the Snark and Best Beloved: Just So Stories (Forks and Hope), in addition to work with New Leaf Theatre, Steep, Knife & Fork, Redmoon and Hobo Junction. She is also an Artistic Affiliate with Babes with Blades. She is a graduate from Ithaca College and the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Theater Institute with continued education at the MXAT studio in Moscow, Russia.






Jorel Corpus, Post Sound Mixer
Los Angeles
Jorel Corpus is a Grammy and Emmy certified, Billboard #1 awarded Music Producer, Sound Engineer and Artist known for his work with in the US and Asia with Brandy, Tyrese, Boyz II Men, JJ Lin, G.E.M. and Disney Concerts. His roots start in Manila playing guitar and co-producing for Philippine rock giants Kjwan and Mixing “Palabas” from Sponge Cola which was certified Gold (PARI) in 2009. 
He then moved on and flew to Boston to study in Berklee College of Music learning under the tutelage of Susan Rogers (Prince) and Charles Alexander (The Notorious B.I.G.) amongst others to hone his musical skills and production chops. Jorel is now based in Los Angeles where he digs deep in the music industry, working in film sound, records and live concerts enjoying his multi dimensional work atmosphere.
 Some of his recent work include the AdWeek ARC Award winning piece "Dear Senator" with Windy Films, "Dear Freddie Mercury" with the International Refugee Committee featuring Game of Thrones actor Lena Headey, Keegan Key and Mandy Patinkin and "The Left/Right Game, a thrilling narrative podcast with Avengers Endgame and Creed star Tessa Thompson from QCode Media. Instagram: jorelcorpus ; http://jorelcorp.us 


Composer, Composer




Jess Godwin, Song Writer
she/her/hers
Chicago...
Jess Godwin’s videos featuring her original songs have been viewed more than 2 million times over the past five years. She writes songs with people, for people and about people, and most of them tell a story about determination, resilience, and strength through vulnerability. Through her work touring the globe with The Shameless Workshop - helping 40,000 students in 80 communities around the world combat shame through songwriting, one classroom at a time - she found that most students wanted to talk about the tough stuff. Consistently encouraging students of all ages to use their own words and ideas to find the positive spin in their songs AND their lives helped Jess find her way to her own Major Lift. Now she’s deeply passionate about helping you find yours.
Jess is a proud recipient of a 2018 $25,000 3Arts Award for her videos and music. Her original music has been licensed to Dance Moms multiple times and her voice has been heard on two commercial spots as the Daisy Sour Cream jingle singer. Over the past two years, Jess and her partner, Gabe, have been writing love songs for couples with their custom wedding song business, With This Song. As an actress, she has been onstage with Court Theatre, The Getty Villa, The Chicago Theatre, The Auditorium Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Writers Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Porchlight Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, The O’Neill Center, Double Door…but her favorite places to play have been school auditoriums and cafeterias. She is the quintessential DIY artist, and continues to make her own music and videos in hopes that more artists will be encouraged to do it themselves, too.
Instagram: @thejessishistory;  Twitter: @messgodwin; www.jessgodwin.com


Alissa Hunnicutt, Puppeteer-lead Empathica


Dan Garza, Puppeteer




Kate Katz, Puppeteer
she/her/hers
Los Angeles
Kate Katz is a Los Angeles based puppeteer and special effects artist. Film credits include: Aquaman, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Annabel Comes Home, and Interstellar. Kate also owns All Hands In, a soft skills development company. AHI specializes in team building and leadership training using the tool of puppetry. For more info connect with her on social media. Instagram: @allhands_in ; FB: @AllHandsInWorkshops ; Twitter: @AllHandsIn2 ; LinkedIn: @all-hands-in- workshops 


Liz Hara, Puppeteer




Raymond Carr, Puppeteer
Atlanta
Raymond Carr is a Jim Henson Company trained puppeteer who has been performing for more than 15 years. He has traveled to every major city in North America and parts of Europe working on multi-million dollar productions. He is skilled in state of the art animatronics, Muppet-style puppetry, motion capture digital puppetry, and traditional theatrical puppetry. Raymond is one of the main characters for the Jim Henson Company's new show, Splash and Bubbles on PBS Kids.  Some of Raymond's other credits include: Jim Henson’s Ned Talks on Disney+ Crank Yankers, BBC’s Moon and Me Nick Jr's Lazytown, Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, Walking with Dinosaurs The Arena Spectacular Tour, various projects for Cartoon Network & Adult Swim, The Center for Puppetry Art, IFC’s Stan Against Evil. He’s produced and directed puppet segments for School of Humans, and numerous commercials for companies. He also performs improv with The Jim Henson Company's live show Puppet Up Uncensored, directed and performed for various shows at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Directed and performed for Heahter Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams.




Amirah J, Actor- Aiya
she/her/hers
Los Angeles
Amirah J was born in 2007 in the Washington, DC area. Her love of acting and dancing started at age 2. After meeting with experienced talent scout Nikki Pederson of Nikki Pederson Talent (NPT) in 2015, Amirah accepted an offer to enroll in the NPT L.A. Invitational 2016 team. She studied for a year with famed acting coach, Max A. Decker, and worked with casting director Patrick Baca before moving to Los Angeles, CA. Since moving to Los Angeles, Amirah J dances regularly with dance choreographer Eddie Martinez. She has worked on national commercials, short films, TV guest spots, and plays the role of Xan on Showtime's Shameless season 9. Instagram: amirahj_la ; Facebook: @AmirahJla ; www.imdb.me/amirahj




Elizabeth Laidlaw, Actor- Empathica
she/her/hers
Chicago
IG - @elizabethlaidlaw   Twitter - @mzlaylaw

thehavenweb.com  callyourshotproductions.com

Elizabeth Laidlaw currently appears as State’s Attorney Elena Becerra on Chicago PD (NBC).  She was a series regular as Officer Victoria “Vic” Renna on the limited series, The Red Line, (CBS/WB). Film credits include the critically acclaimed Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party, as well as Cleveland Abduction, Into The Wake, Dimension and Three Days. Other television appearances include Betrayal, Crisis, The Chicago Code, TURKS, and the recurring role of Alderman Linda Driscoll on Boss. She is the co-producer of and stars in the Chicago-based web-series, The Haven ( thehavenweb.com ) a dramedy set in a domestic violence shelter, airing on OpenTV since 2019.
As a stage actor, Elizabeth has performed in Chicago with Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Goodman, Writer’s Theatre, and Court Theatre, to name a few.  Regionally she has appeared at American Repertory Theatre, Irish Classical Theatre and Indiana Repertory Theatre.  She is the founding artistic director of Lakeside Shakespeare Theatre in Benzie County Michigan, which will celebrate it’s 15th season in July and August of 2018.
As a director and producer, Elizabeth recently directed the critically acclaimed Girl in the Red Corner for Broken Nose Theater, and episode two of The Haven webseries. Other directing credits include Henry VIII, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Lakeside Shakespeare.
Elizabeth has lent her voice to numerous ad campaigns, including Disney and Sears, and was very proud to narrate the award-winning documentary Hard Earned by Kartemquin Films, examining the struggle of individuals trying to get by on minimum wage in America.

Elizabeth received a BFA in performance and directing from Illinois Wesleyan University, and studied Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, UK.  She teaches acting at Flashpoint Academy and Vagabond School of the Arts.